He claimed Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn was a “real and present danger” with his socialist ideals and the fact he was pushing simple solutions to complex issues.
In what amounted to a history lecture, he bleated on about the 1970s and how Labour had allowed trade unions to get a strangle hold on the nation’s coffers and push us further and further into debt.
He then lauded the free markets and increasing every individuals productivity as the way to make sure everybody in this country felt that they lived a life that was better than the one enjoyed by the generation before it.
He promised an extra £10bn in funding for Help to Buy (which merely inflates demand, rather than increasing housing supply).
I would argue Mr Hammond’s speech offered no solutions to the problem of people feeling like they are working harder, for fewer benefits, and a rubbish retirement income.
Mr Hammond’s history lecture shows he just doesn’t grasp what life is like for someone who bought a home many years ago and hasn’t got a final salary pension guaranteed by the nation’s taxpayersThe chancellor spoke of “the pressure on living standards caused by slow wage growth and a spike in inflation”.
Yet after the longest fall in real wages since the Napoleonic Wars, he was notably short of answers to how to turn this situation around instead just picking holes in his rival’s plans.
Before you leap to the comments section on this article and claim I am pro-Corbyn, can I point out I can see many flaws in his Leftist ideology.
But – even if it was faked footage – the sight of him sitting on the floor of a packed train carriage showed he seemed to have a greater understanding of what many people in this country feel about the rat race of 2017.
Ultimately Mr Hammond’s history lecture shows he just doesn’t grasp what life is like for someone who bought a home many years ago and hasn’t got a final salary pension guaranteed by the nation’s tax payers.
If he doesn’t buck up his ideas his party is going to lose yet more seats as it is hard to sell capitalism to so many people who feel capital-poor.
The bulk of this nation face a worse retirement income than their parents, many are unable to afford their own home or face getting a mortgage far later in life and still be paying it off into retirement.
If you work in London you also face the daily insult of paying a hefty price tag for late trains and travelling cattle class into the City.
I’ll see you sitting on the floor of Southern Rail soon, eh Mr Corbyn?
emma.hughes@ft.com
